We decorate hallways, stairs and landings in Queen's Park, NN2, which lies 1.3 miles due north of the town centre. Dean handles the stairwell access, the woodwork and the walls, and gives a free quote after looking at your staircase.
A front door that opens straight onto the stairs
In many Queen’s Park terraces, including the Balmoral Road layouts, you step through the front door into an entrance hall with the staircase rising straight ahead. It is a compact arrangement. The hall is narrow, the stair wall runs the full height of the house in one plane, and the banister, spindles, newel post and under-stairs door all sit within a couple of metres of each other. Almost every surface in the space gets touched, carried past or knocked, and the decorating has to be planned around a route the household uses all day.
Because the flight starts so close to the door, there is often no flat floor at the bottom of the stair wall to stand a ladder on. We set an adjustable stair platform across the lower treads so the tall wall above the flight can be reached from a level deck, then move it up as the work goes on. One side of the stairs stays passable throughout.
Taller stairwells in the townhouse terraces to the south
The Victorian townhouses just south of Queen’s Park on the Kingsthorpe Road approach, at Primrose Hill, St George’s Place and Elysium Terrace, run to three storeys with bays from basement to ground floor. Their stairwells are a different job. There are two or three flights, the wall over the upper flight is well beyond stepladder reach, and the landing ceilings are high. Here we use staging boards between properly footed ladders and platforms, and work from the top down so dust and drips never land on finished paint.
Old plaster, picture rails and period woodwork
Halls in houses of this age usually keep their original plaster, and the stair wall is where it shows movement most: cracks along the line of the string, loose patches where wall meets ceiling, and old filler that has shrunk. We cut these out and fill them properly before a sealer coat goes on. Where a dado or picture rail survives, it gives a natural break between a hard-wearing lower finish and a lighter colour above. In a period hall that line suits a heritage scheme, with a deeper shade below the rail and something paler higher up to stop a narrow hall feeling dark.
Woodwork in a terrace hallway takes the heaviest wear in the house. Spindles and handrails are sanded and coated by hand, skirtings along the stair string are caulked where they have pulled away from the wall, and the under-stairs cupboard door is treated like any other period door.
Kit, parking and keeping the hall in use
Queen’s Park streets rely on on-street parking and the houses are mostly mid-terrace, so stair platforms and boards come in through the front door and go straight into the hall. We sheet the floor and treads first, keep a clear walking line, and leave the stairs safe to use each evening. If there are pets or young children in the house, tell us and we’ll stage the work so the banister isn’t wet when you need it.
Our main hallway, stairs and landing decorating page explains the access equipment and finishes in more detail. For other work in the district, see our Queen’s Park area page, and if you are comparing decorators, our guide to choosing a painter and decorator sets out what to ask before you book.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
